Release
by PeetasGirl8
Summary: Rated M for dark and strong themes. No sex. Just a short, emotional one-shot I decided to do. What if Peeta's attacks went one step too far?


**Release**

**Disclaimer: The Hunger Games is owned by Suzanne Collins, not me. **

"Peeta! No!"

But it was too late. The married couple's newborn child was lying on the ground by Peeta's feet. Peeta awakened from his demented muttation nightmare right after he had taken her short life away from her. As he saw what he had done, he dropped to his knees and caressed Lily's now snapped neck. He was shaking, and as much as Katniss knew she should go and comfort him, it was hard for her to see him as anything but a monster now. She ran.

Peeta heard his wife leave, but he couldn't bring himself to try to stop her. He didn't deserve her. He destroyed her child, her last remaining chance at a normal life. He couldn't stop shaking. "She wasn't a baby," Peeta mumbled to himself in a low whisper. "She was a muttation, a monster, I swear."

Katniss stopped outside the front door of her and Peeta's house in the Victor's Village. After some panicked thought, she started towards Haymitch's house. A boisterous POUND POUND POUND was heard throughout the village as Katniss frantically knocked on the door. When there was no answer for five seconds, she slammed into the door with enough force to knock it down, only to find a passed out Haymitch with a half bottle of opened booze on the table. Katniss grabbed the bottle and tipped her head back. The burn as it went down her throat was welcomed. It was better than the strange numbness she was feeling, albeit for the feeling of anger and hatred of Peeta's muttation form.

Peeta was curled in the fetal position not ten minutes later. Still shaking uncontrollably, the white carpeted floor now stained with his tears and a small pool of blood from the infant girl's mouth.

Katniss had downed the rest of the alcohol and started noticing the effects as she tried to walk to a protruding corner. She drunkenly lifted the bottle and swung it against the wall with as much force as she could. The first time wasn't nearly forceful enough, but the second one woke Haymitch up. The third attempt proved to be successful, sending shards of broken glass in all directions and leaving Katniss with a weapon perfect for what she needed it for.

The initial shock was beginning to wear off of Peeta's mind, leaving a trail of pain and guilt behind in its wake. However, shock prevented him from moving from his place of vigil and pain allowed him to find his wife before something bad happened. He pulled himself up, trying to divert his eyes from Lily's motionless body as much as possible. He closed the door behind him as he left the nursery and grabbed a coat before he left the house.

"Katniss? Put that down." Haymitch sounded uncharacteristacally alert for just being passed out. Katniss ignored him and tried to shrug past him out the door. But Haymitch was faster. He blocked the door with his body and tried to snatch the sharp-edged broken bottle from her. Katniss pulled it back fast enough to maintain possession of it though, and she ran upstairs into the bathroom. After locking the door behind her, she hurriedly opened the window to find the tree she knew would be there. Climbing up to the window, she looked down and dropped the glass bottle into a bush below.

_Where could she be_, Peeta wondered. He started toward the forest. As he started walking out of the Victor's Village, however, he thought he saw movement by the tree separating Haymitch's house from their own. He looked back up, but saw nothing. He decided it must have been his mind playing tricks on him. He continued at a brisk pace toward the old electrified fence that bordered the District. He knew where the broken parts were from the occassional shared trips to the woods with Katniss. He desperately hoped that's where she would be now.

Katniss looked back out to make sure Peeta had gone. That was close. "Katniss! Open up!" Haymitch screamed through the door. No time to waste. She leapt through the window and quickly scaled down the tree. As she reached the base, she heard a door crashing open from above. Katniss quickly searched for the bottle she had dropped safely into the bush and raced toward her own front door. The door was latched securely behind her.

Peeta found himself running in frenzied circles, looking for Katniss everywhere. He couldn't find her though. _Shit_. Haymitch's house. He raced back from the clearing as fast as he could, but the sun was starting to set, and it seemed twilight was causing shadows to jump out at him. He started panicking, feeling lost, as time ticked by. He felt so damn helpless. "Katniss!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He heard it echo through the forest, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be enough.

Although she was in her own house now, Katniss knew it was only a matter of time before Haymitch made his way over. There was only so much time. The bathroom was too obvious a choice. He'd look there first. The nursery seemed like a good place though. She darted up the stairs and into the nursery. Katniss heard the front door break open, possibly off its hinges. Better make this quick. She quietly closed the door to the nursery behind her. Katniss then sat down and lifted the bottle to her wrist.

It burned. Oh God, did it burn. But he kept sprinting back home. His lungs were on fire. But yet he sped his way through Haymitch's door. It was left open. Not a good sign. A fast glance at his own front door told him that both Katniss and Haymitch were in his own house. He changed direction and ran through his house. Peeta found Haymitch in the lower level bathroom, searching for Katniss. Peeta went upstairs to look for her.

There was a pair of feet tearing up the stairs, but it headed for the bathroom. There were already two cuts running down her veins on her left wrist, dripping blood on the floor. Katniss thought it would hurt more, but she barely felt it. After one more deep cut, the edges of her vision got blurred. She was bleeding out fast. Good. _Less time for them to find me_. She watched the blood fall as she cut through her skin once, twice, thrice more. She thought she heard the door open then, but she couldn't be sure. Everything was getting dark.

_No_. "Haymitch! Here!" Peeta called downstairs. Haymitch soon joined the shocked husband. The sight was a disaster. "What can we do?" Peeta asked his elder. Tears were leaking out the corners of his eyes. "We'll bring her to the hospital. I'll carry her," Haymitch answered. "No. Let me carry her." Peeta stepped up to the bloody limp body of the girl he loved and tenderly lifted it over his shoulder. He rushed down the stairs, out the door, and to the hospital put up a few years ago. Haymitch stayed in close pursuit.

It was so dark. _Am I dead?_ Katniss couldn't be sure. But she thought she liked it. There were no emotions. No pain, no hatred, no fear, and no regret. The only way it would be better is if Peeta had been there. With no emotions, she no longer saw him as just a monster. He was still the man Katniss loved. But all that aside, death was peaceful. She hoped it wouldn't be yanked away from her anytime soon.

She wasn't coming back. Her heart rate had finally stopped ten minutes after she got checked in. Peeta thanked Haymitch and tried to just leave when he heard that, but Haymitch feared for Peeta's life. He insisted on at least walking him home. Peeta agreed, but only half-heartedly. He felt emotionless. Numb. Nothing else could possibly hurt him. Nothing. Not even, say, too many pills or a few more uses out of that broken bloody booze bottle.

It all stopped. Katniss was no longer in a place of peace. She could feel her life leave her body as she died. Just one final pain before sweet release from it all.

Haymitch promised he would come back to check on Peeta the following morning. Bright and early. Peeta agreed and tried to close the broken front door as well as he could. He then slowly walked through the house just one last time. It seemed like it was the closure he needed. His love had already left his life...there was no point to staying alive any longer. After smelling the scent of chocolate chip muffins left over from that morning one last time, he floated into the nursery. If he'd stay alive any longer, this would be the place of all the rest of his nightmares. Thank God there won't be a chance for that. He sat down cross legged on the floor, next to Lily. He leaned over and kissed her cold skin. He then picked up the bloody bottle.


End file.
